Shrinkage in retail is one of the worst things a retail business can experience, causing major profit loss and a feeling that what’s it all for?

Shrinkage is generally caused by two key factors, theft and fraud. Two things that are hard to control and monitor due to the human element. This is why you need to be vigilant and monitor your store, looking at ways you can protect it and your business.

Some areas to focus on are keeping systems up-to-date, making sure your staff are trained correctly and have practices in place to monitor any ‘fishy’ behaviour.

To help you manage this risk, follow these tips:

Watch out for these signs of shoplifting and make sure that your staff are properly trained in this area:
– anyone who avoids making direct eye contact
– anyone that keeps looking at staff or the cashier
– anyone that keeps returning to your store but never purchases
– anyone that wears bulky clothing, particularly during summer – anything that is out of place for the time of year
– large groups of people, as they can make it easy for someone to steal

Have your staff always greet and welcome people into the store. This one thing can often deter people from shoplifting because it shows that your staff are available and ‘on to it’.

Keep your store neat and tidy. If it’s organised, you’ll easily spot if something is missing. If possible, arrange items that are prone to theft in such a way that you can see the items at all times.

Use your store analytics to monitor things. This is your video surveillance and your inventory and POS systems. They can tell you what’s going on in your store in terms of missing inventory and foot traffic through your store. Use what you have to it’s best advantage.

With regards to return fraud, this can be tricky to manage, which is why ensuring your staff are properly trained to deal with these situations is key.

Always request proof of purchase for any returns and ensure that your returns policy is clearly displayed within in your store, so that customers know that if they are returning goods, they need to provide their proof of purchase in the first instance.

If you have a high return rate, create customer profiles and ask for identification when a person is returning goods. If it’s someone that is returning goods regularly, you’ll need to deal with this issue further.

When it comes to employee theft, you should consider these tips to reduce this from happening:
– hire the right people; always complete thorough background checks
– make your workplace a happy one – staff won’t steal from employers they love
– perform regular and random audits on your financials, this will pick up any discrepancies

The bottom line is – you need to ensure that you have the right systems and practices in place to reduce shrinkage in your retail business. If you need help in setting up inventory management and POS systems that will help reduce shrinkage in your business, contact us today.

Mobile Business App Ecosystem – An Update

The image below depicts over 150 companies (source: Gigaom.com) that have some form of mobile app in the marketplace. Look back just six months and there were only 90.

There are some major changes happening the mobile business app marketplace and the key question for retailers and business owners is: “How can I capitalise on this for myself?”

Some of the major changes in the mobile business app market that you should be keeping an eye on included:

Healthcare and Real Estate have seen a huge surge in app creation. Are you in either of these industries as a business? Is there a way that you could be utilising an app in your business, either to help streamline what you’re doing or help customers find you?

As is the case with web-based apps, there has been a huge increase in the amount of business productivity apps being created. Is this a way that your business could market itself? Could you develop a productivity app that would benefit both your customers and the industry you work in? Some thoughts to consider – can you make a difference in this market?

Apps that target specific business functions have been seeing large success. Most of these apps sit in sales, marketing and service industries. Of note, there has been a rise in apps created to increase productivity of sales reps. Is this something that would benefit your business? Is there a business function that your company could turn into an app?

When it comes to the app ecosystem, nothing is more than true than it changing rapidly. If your business doesn’t have a mobile presence, then you could be missing out on a lot of income and engagement with customers. It’s something to consider as we head into the next quarter for 2014.

As a retail store owner, one of the biggest ways that you can make a difference to the customer experience is in the way you design your store layout.

A great store layout design can also increase the impact your products have on your customer, boosting sales and driving foot traffic into your store.

Before you set up your store or enter into a new design, consider these questions.

5 Questions to Ask For an Effective Store Layout

1. What is your floor plan?

The space that you have determines what you’ve got to work with, so understand the type of floor plan that you have and then go from there. There are 4 types of floor plans, and each one has it’s own benefits – it depends on what you are selling and the types of customer you attract.

The 4 types of floor plans are:

Geometric floor plan – this type of floor plan uses racks and fixtures, creating a unique feel. This type of layout is ideal if you are planning to showcase trendy products

Straight floor plan – this is the simplest type of floor plan and entails positioning your shelves and racks in straight lines for organised flow. It’s also the most economical floor layout and is utilised mostly by large retail spaces, such as supermarkets.

Angular floor plan – this type of layout has a lot of curves and angles, giving off a sophisticated vibe. This type of floor plan is usually found in high-end retailers and is the smallest of the floor plans.

Diagonal floor plan – this type of plan will provide you with more visibility, both from a staff and customer perspective and is best utilised in smaller spaces. Self-service shops or stores where close monitoring of customers is required.

2. Do you lead customers to the left or right?

What are we talking about here? Whether you lead your customer clockwise or anti-clockwise – and does it actually make a difference?

Generally, shoppers will go in the direction they drive, so as we are based in Australia, most shoppers will enter the store and browse in a clockwise direction. Once you know which direction, make sure you place any new arrival items and specials in strategic places following this direction.

3. Can you appeal to people’s other senses?

The more you can do to make your store enticing, the more success you’ll have at attracting foot traffic and converting sales. Depending on what you sell, how can you appear to the other senses that you aren’t already hitting?

Here’s some ideas:

Use sound – choose your music carefully. Decide on the atmosphere you are looking to create and choose songs that will enhance this.

Use scent – if you’re selling furniture, coffee is a great scent to have in your store. Alternatively, if you’re selling clothing, match the scent to the type of clothing your selling to entice shoppers senses further.

Use touch – the best way to do this is to have samples of each product available for customers to touch – everyone likes to touch things and by doing this, you are encouraging them to interact with your product.

Use taste – this really only works if you’re selling food products. Offer free taste testing stations throughout your store. This encourages the shopper to interact both with your product and with your staff.

4. How do you determine if you’re making the correct layout decisions?

Simply ask. Ask your staff what they think of any changes your planning to make. Also take note of what your shoppers do when they enter they store, do they linger in certain spots, do they touch your products or do they move through quickly. You can also ask your customers directly what they think and record their answers. This will give you a very clear picture of what changes need to be implemented.

5. How should staff behave?

This can sometimes be a forgotten aspect of store layout – where your staff are positioned. Depending on what layout you go with, having employees standing in once place might not be the best option. Generally, it’s better to have your sales staff move around the floor rather than standing behind the counter; it makes the store more inviting. Apply the “act as if they were customers” philosophy as well, whereby staff act as if they are customers by moving around the store and touching the products. People are more inclined to enter a store that doesn’t appear empty.

Now that you have the questions and the answers, you can apply these to your store layout and come up with an effective and functional design.

As many companies know, a mobile strategy is key to having ongoing success in getting in front of their target market. But what a lot of businesses don’t seem to understand, is that it’s not just about having a mobile strategy in place, it’s more about what type of mobile strategy you actually use to get to your market.

In a recent article, Phil Komany, CEO of USA, Roberts and Pencils, talked about how your mobile strategy should be based around empathy. No longer are we chained to our desks, we can get up and move about and still have access to everything that we need to do our work, stay in touch with friends and keep up with what the family is doing.

Mobile and Business

So how does this relate to business? It is all about how well you leverage mobile technology to ensure that your business is being accessed across these mobile devices, at any time of the day or night.

What is a little scary however, is just how many businesses are out there who are not taking advantage of mobile. 31 percent of businesses surveyed in 2013 admitted to not having a mobile strategy in place. Let’s hope you’re not one of them! But if you are, here’s what you need to focus on.

Empathy For The End User

Your mobile strategy should focus on empathy. Empathy for the end user’s experience with accessing your businesses mobile advertising. This should be how your measure how successful your mobile strategy is – by how well the end user finds accessing the app or your mobile website to be easy and rewarding.

If you miss the boat on this, then you end up missing customers and dollars.

Mobile Strategy – What to Include

Identify the points of where your mobile strategy will directly impact the end user in a positive way. Focus on pain points of your target audience and how you can fix them via your mobile strategy.

Decide whether you will create or buy the mobile solution you are going to use to deliver your mobile strategy. There is no right or wrong answer here. You just have to determine which option will work best for your business and the end user. Shoot for a solution that still allows you to interact with your end users and you’ve got a winner.

Continue to assess the solution and strategies that you have in place. It’s not enough to understand your users, you need to stay in tune with them. Use metrics to track user engagement to stay in tune with them.

Iterate the process once you’ve figured out what works best and what doesn’t. Your mobile strategy should always be changing to stay in tune with the end user and to stay ahead of your competition.

If you are looking for ways to include mobile technologies into your business, the team at Apps in Business can help. Get in touch with us today to discuss your mobile needs, from iPads to Smartphones and cloud based solutions, we can help implement a solution that meets all your needs.

As many companies know, a mobile strategy is key to having ongoing success in getting in front of their target market. But what a lot of businesses don’t seem to understand, is that it’s not just about having a mobile strategy in place, it’s more about what type of mobile strategy you actually use to get to your market.

In a recent article, Phil Komany, CEO of USA, Roberts and Pencils, talked about how your mobile strategy should be based around empathy. No longer are we chained to our desks, we can get up and move about and still have access to everything that we need to do our work, stay in touch with friends and keep up with what the family is doing.

Mobile and Business

So how does this relate to business? It is all about how well you leverage mobile technology to ensure that your business is being accessed across these mobile devices, at any time of the day or night.

What is a little scary however, is just how many businesses are out there who are not taking advantage of mobile. 31 percent of businesses surveyed in 2013 admitted to not having a mobile strategy in place. Let’s hope you’re not one of them! But if you are, here’s what you need to focus on.

Empathy For The End User

Your mobile strategy should focus on empathy. Empathy for the end user’s experience with accessing your businesses mobile advertising. This should be how your measure how successful your mobile strategy is – by how well the end user finds accessing the app or your mobile website to be easy and rewarding.

If you miss the boat on this, then you end up missing customers and dollars.

Mobile Strategy – What to Include

Identify the points of where your mobile strategy will directly impact the end user in a positive way. Focus on pain points of your target audience and how you can fix them via your mobile strategy.

Decide whether you will create or buy the mobile solution you are going to use to deliver your mobile strategy. There is no right or wrong answer here. You just have to determine which option will work best for your business and the end user. Shoot for a solution that still allows you to interact with your end users and you’ve got a winner.

Continue to assess the solution and strategies that you have in place. It’s not enough to understand your users, you need to stay in tune with them. Use metrics to track user engagement to stay in tune with them.

Iterate the process once you’ve figured out what works best and what doesn’t. Your mobile strategy should always be changing to stay in tune with the end user and to stay ahead of your competition.

If you are looking for ways to include mobile technologies into your business, the team at Apps in Business can help. Get in touch with us today to discuss your mobile needs, from iPads to Smartphones and cloud based solutions, we can help implement a solution that meets all your needs.

If you’re in business, you need to ensure that you make your business more mobile. Businesses need to approach strategies with a mobile consciousness – being aware that customers are demanding immediate access to products and services at the touch of a button.

As a small business owner, it is now more imperative that your business is accessible from all mobile devices as well as having the ability to actually be mobile.

Here’s a few stats from the US marketplace that might make you sit up and take notice if you haven’t updated your website or business since 2005:

So, are you sitting up and taking notice yet? Mobile and mobile technology is the future of the business world – if you want to stay relevant and accessible to your customers, you need to figure out a way to get mobile!

How to Get Mobile

Use smart technology – this means investing in smartphones or tablets for your sales team, at least. If you are a tradesperson, having a smartphone that allows you to access your job allocations and invoicing system is a great way to stay connected and minimise administration nightmares.

Head to the clouds – utilise cloud-based systems and programs to ensure that you are not office-bound all the time. This is particularly useful for pop-up retail stores and restaurant owners looking to expand – cloud-based POS systems and accounting software allows you to access your business from any device, in any location – you just need internet access.

Utilise apps – if you’re planning to use smart devices (and you should be) then using the right apps is key to ensuring that going mobile is easy and painless. Apps like Xero and Vend can make a huge difference in the way you do business.

Update your website – not only do you need to be mobile, but so does your website. How many of your customers are accessing your website from their smartphone or tablets? If you looked at the infographic above, you’d know that 44% of Australians do a local search daily and 80% of those searchers reach out to a local business after that mobile search. Is that enough to make you think about getting that website updated yet?!

Tailored options – utilising a service that can create a package that meets your businesses specific requirements, whether that’s smart device technology implementation, cloud-based program setup or mobile payment devices – a company like Apps in Business can create something that meets your specific needs.

Going mobile is far more easier than it used to be and the costs are significantly less than they were too. Contact the team at Apps in Business today to discuss how they can get your business mobile today.